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Joseph and his brethren

Introduction

The six years from 1739 brought about some of Handel’s finest large-scale works. In 1739 came Saul, Israel in Egypt and the Ode for St Cecilia’s Day, the following year L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, in 1742 Messiah, the next year Samson, in 1744 Semele and Joseph and his Brethren, and the year after Hercules and Belshazzar. Of these works, Joseph (and, to a lesser degree, Hercules) has been curiously neglected. In Handel’s day the oratorio was well thought of: after the first of its four performances in March 1744 Handel was able to bank £250 and he revived it—as usual, with revisions—for pairs of performances in 1745 and 1747, and then for single performances in 1755 and 1757.

The Earl of Egmont was impressed at his first hearing, calling the oratorio an ‘inimitable composition’ and that indefatigable Handel supporter Mrs Delany reported that audiences were good: ‘The oratorios fill very well, notwithstanding the spite of the opera party … I fancy Handel will have a second subscription’. The rehearsals had not been trouble-free, and there are enough stories about Handel’s ill-tempered rehearsals for us to realize that he was not an easy man for whom to work. On 25 February Mrs Delany wrote to her sister: ‘Handel is mightily out of humour … Sullivan, who is to sing Joseph, is a block with a very fine voice, and Beard has no voice at all’.

Irritating to Handel or not, the cast at the first Covent Garden performance on 2 March 1744 was a distinguished one, including the countertenor ‘block with a fine voice’ Daniel Sullivan as Joseph and Elisabeth Duparc (otherwise known as ‘La Francescina’) as Asenath. The tenor John Beard (one of Handel’s most favoured soloists who continued—clearly finding his voice again—to sing for Handel well into the 1750s) sang the roles of both Simeon and Judah, the German bass Thomas Reinhold the parts of Pharaoh and Reuben, the contralto Esther Young the role of Phanor, and ‘The Boy’ (probably Samuel Champness) sang Benjamin. In the four revivals between 1745 and 1757 the parts for Joseph, Benjamin, Phanor and the High Priest were altered, with the casting of different voices bringing about new arias and transpositions of existing ones. Some of these alterations make the score confusing, especially in the recitative writing for Joseph, where there are frequently two possible sets of notes. In 1745 a boy treble may have sung the role, explaining Handel’s inking-in of some new notes, and the nineteenth-century Handel editor Chrysander added to the confusion by claiming that the treble took part in the first performance—which the evidence shows is not the case. Our performance follows (as much as we can ascertain) the original edition heard in the two 1744 Covent Garden performances.

Twentieth-century scholars have been unkind about Joseph and his Brethren. Winton Dean starts his chapter (in Handel’s Dramatic Oratorios and Masques) with the statement, ‘Of all the oratorios Deborah and Joseph come nearest to complete failure’. This view of Joseph seems largely to have been based (as was Dean’s opinion of Deborah, restored after its recent Hyperion recording to a better reputation) on Dean’s views of the libretto, and not really on the music at all. As ever, Handel’s arias and choruses are full of good, varied music, the prison scenes are especially theatrical and effective, the recitative writing and the accompagnatos are particularly colourful in their harmonic invention, and (drawing shamelessly on the time-honoured theatrical tradition of placing an innocent child centre-stage) the writing for young Benjamin can have left few dry eyes in the house.

The libretto The librettist for Joseph was James Miller (1708–1744), an Oxford-educated vicar who had spent much of the 1730s adapting and writing satires and comedies for the London theatres. Miller is described as having been ‘firm and steadfast in his Principles, ardent in his Friendships, and somewhat precipitate in his Resentments’. As a High Church man writing low-level comedy (albeit under a pen-name) he effectively wrote himself out from promotion within the church and, as a satirist, he predictably made many enemies, beginning with his first London comedy, The Humours of Oxford, which ‘gave considerable umbrage’. Later in the decade he entered into a controversial public debate with the publication of an article entitled Are these things so? The previous question, from an Englishman in his grotto to a great man at Court, which provoked three strong pamphlet responses.

By the time Miller started writing the libretto for Joseph he was Rector of Upcerne, Dorset, and, according to Donald Burrows, ‘although apparently a supporter of the Hanoverians, was fundamentally sympathetic to the dramatic stance accorded to Joseph as an uncorrupted public servant surrounded by the temptations and uncertainties of power, and occasionally envying the peasant’s supposedly simple life’. Miller’s much-criticized libretto was in fact based on works by others: in 1711 Abbé Genest had written a five-act play Joseph which was adapted by the Italian Apostolo Zeno for Antonio Caldara’s oratorio Giuseppe, first performed in Vienna in 1722. A separate influence may have been Elizabeth Rowe’s The History of Joseph: a Poem which was published in eight books in 1736. Zeno portrayed Joseph as a lachrymose character, and Rowe saw Asenath as a former ‘virgin priestess’, which may explain various references in Miller’s libretto and Asenath’s occasional prophetic utterances.

For Parts II and III of Joseph Miller was able to lean on Zeno’s libretto, which deals with the visit of Joseph’s brothers to Egypt and the reconciliation and reunification of Joseph’s family—action that is fairly confined in both time and place. For Part I, however, Miller needed to outline Joseph’s interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams, his transformation from prisoner to Court officer and his courtship and marriage. This action takes place some years before Parts II and III, and necessarily compresses the classical unities of time and place to tell the events of several months and different locations. Not content with this difficulty, Miller takes a thoroughly dramatic view of the events (including two fine prison scenes), and introduces topics related to the development of relationships, including the effects of ingratitude and jealousy. Packing all this into his libretto, the plot does become more than a little confused, but eighteenth-century audiences would have known such a familiar biblical story well. The original wordbook contained an ‘Advertisement’ which filled in the missing parts of the background. This Advertisement is reproduced below and for those whose memories of the finer details of the Old Testament have become a little rusty it is well worth a read!

Handel’s score and the plot—a synopsis Handel’s score was largely newly composed, containing surprisingly few borrowings from previous works. The four-section overture, full of gravitas, was a fine one: Handel sets an unusually sombre tone, opening the work with two slow movements, followed by a serious fugue and a simple minuet. The first scene is dramatic and could easily have come straight from one of the operas: we are introduced to Joseph who is in prison, ‘reclining in a melancholy posture’, resignedly accepting a fate that he cannot understand. Phanor, Pharaoh’s chief butler, enters and requests that Joseph assist the ruler in interpreting his dream. Joseph senses the hand of fate at work in his melodious aria ‘Come, divine inspirer, come’ and Phanor, having apologized to Joseph for forgetting him for so long (the reasons for which would have been supplied to the audience in the ‘Advertisement’), muses on ingratitude. The scene changes to Pharaoh’s Palace, where the ruler requests Joseph’s help. Joseph explains that only Heaven can do this, and the chorus calls for Jehovah’s assistance for Joseph in revealing the truths behind Pharaoh’s ‘mystic dreams’. Joseph carries out his task in another dramatic accompagnato which splits into two distinct themes, one arpeggionic and lively, the other legato and dreamy, explaining that there will be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of dearth. Pharaoh, much impressed, appoints Joseph to be second-in-command of the land.

Asenath too is impressed, although by rather different qualities, venting her feelings in the delightful aria ‘O lovely youth, with wisdom crown’d’. Pharaoh awards Joseph the title of ‘Zaphnath-Paaneah’ (which Miller explained in a footnote as ‘Saviour of the World’) and the chorus rejoices in suitably grand fashion. Asenath now reveals her growing desire for Joseph in an ornate aria ‘I feel a spreading flame’ and Joseph wastes no time in asking Pharaoh for her hand in marriage. Permission being immediately granted, we are treated to the duet ‘Celestial virgin! Godlike youth!’, a ‘Grand March during the procession’ of the wedding (based on the Dead March from Samson and bringing the first entry of trumpets and timpani), the chorus ‘Immortal pleasures crown this pair’ and, to conclude the Act, Pharaoh’s splendid aria ‘Since the race of time begun’ which is translated at the midpoint into a joyful chorus.

Before Part II begins, the predicted seven years of prosperity have elapsed, and now the people are suffering seven years of famine. Joseph’s shrewd management of resources is proving successful, and the opening chorus (including a fugue based on ‘Bless the glad earth’, from Semele) and succeeding recitative indicate that his popularity with the Egyptians is great. The lively second section of Asenath’s aria ‘Our fruits, whilst yet in blossom, die’ also confirms this, as does Phanor, and the chorus praise Joseph’s virtue and his incorruptibility. Despite this fame, Joseph is unhappy, missing his native land, and Asenath sings a touching aria quoting Joseph’s words to his children: ‘Together, lovely innocents, grow up’. In the following recitative Asenath reveals that Joseph is suffering sudden mood changes, one moment silent, the next exclaiming, ‘Inhuman Brethren! O unhappy father’, but she does not understand why.

The scene changes to another prison, this time one in which Simeon, brother of Joseph, has been incarcerated for a year, held as a hostage. In a dramatic accompagnato and aria (‘Remorse, confusion’) he berates his brothers for not coming to rescue him, and guiltily remembers the ruse that he and his brothers pulled to fake Joseph’s death. Joseph orders Phanor to bring Simeon to his presence. Whilst Phanor fetches the prisoner, Joseph muses wistfully in an especially fine, extended accompagnato and then in a lyrical siciliano aria (‘The peasant tastes the sweets of life’) that, despite his enormous power in Egypt, his rule is nothing but slavery to him. In the complex recitative that follows, Joseph prepares to meet his treacherous brother Simeon. Trembling, Simeon is brought to Joseph, who demands to know why the remaining brothers have not returned as had been agreed. Mention of Joseph’s old father (who is grieving at the supposed death of Joseph) and Benjamin (the youngest brother, who has remained at home to comfort the father) tests Joseph’s fortitude to maintain his cover but, hearing of his own ‘death’ he tells Simeon that he knows he is lying and exits. Simeon, in the anguished ‘Impostor! Ah! my foul offence’, is distraught. Next it is Asenath’s turn to be melancholy: she explains that she cannot be happy whilst Joseph is sad, and sings the two-part aria ‘The silver stream, that all its way’. Questioned by Asenath as to his ‘heart’s malady’, Joseph is evasive, making excuses of ‘A slight disorder—public cares’ but, hearing that ‘a youth of matchless beauty’ (Benjamin) has arrived, promises that ‘Soon thou shalt know’.

Phanor brings in Joseph’s brothers, calming the nervous Judah with the opinion that Joseph is a fair ruler who will not ‘condemn you wrongfully’. Judah sings the splendid aria ‘To keep afar from all offence’, and the brothers (represented by the choir) sing a chorus whose material originally came in the Chandos anthem Have mercy upon me. The brothers implore Joseph’s help, first through Reuben, then Judah, and finally the young Benjamin, whom Joseph calls ‘son’. Benjamin sings a touching aria (‘Thou deign’st to call thy servant, ‘son’’) in which he notes the uncanny resemblance of Joseph to his father. Joseph is greatly moved by the boy’s innocence, and especially by mention of his father, and leaves weeping with ‘joy and anguish’. The chorus prays that Israel be delivered from its troubles: the second section introduces an extraordinarily chromatic countersubject and the Act ends with a moving statement of their faith in God.

Part III begins with a lively Sinfonia which leads into a conversation between Asenath and Phanor: we learn that a silver cup has been stolen, that Joseph’s brothers are suspected, and that they have been captured. Phanor sings the aria ‘The wanton favours of the great’. Asenath is still puzzled that Joseph is ‘so disturb’d’ and, with his lack of communication, says that he must be jealous. She sings the splendid aria ‘Ah Jealousy, thou pelican’: the text of this aria has drawn ribald comment from some twentieth-century commentators, but is actually a serious reference to the erroneous eighteenth-century belief that pelicans would peck their own breasts to draw blood on which to feed their youngsters.

Finally Joseph rises to Asenath’s bait and reveals part of his disquiet, the fact that his father is ‘inconsolable and wretched’ and, more immediately, hungry. Asenath suggests that Joseph should send food from Egypt, but Joseph counters that this would be a corrupt act. Asenath suggests bringing Joseph’s father into Egypt: Joseph’s popularity with both Pharaoh and the people is as high as ever. Joseph, in the aria ‘The people’s favour’ tells that such acclaim can quickly be lost. Asenath offers to plead with Pharaoh and sings an extended and virtuosic aria, ‘Prophetic raptures swell my breast’. The brothers appear in chains, ‘indignation in their looks’, and are accused of the theft of the missing silver cup, which they deny. It is found in the innocent Benjamin’s sack, and the brothers are told they are to be banished from Egypt. Benjamin is seized, desolately noting that at his birth his mother died, and that now his imprisonment will lead to his father’s death.

Joseph still has to pretend that he does not know his brother: Benjamin movingly pleads that Joseph should remember the affection he showed at their first meeting, but it is to no avail—he is taken to prison. Simeon asks for clemency on humanitarian grounds but Joseph will hear none of it. Reuben reminds Simeon that the brothers once ignored Joseph’s pleas; now they are receiving similar treatment. If they return without Benjamin their father will die of grief. If they stay he will die of famine. First Simeon asks for God’s mercy in the delicious accompagnato ‘O gracious God’ and then the chorus calls for assistance in ‘Eternal Monarch of the sky’. Joseph is angry that the brothers have disobeyed his command to leave the country; Judah explains the sadness that his father will feel if Benjamin is detained. Simeon sings the aria ‘Thou had’st, my Lord, a father once’ and offers to take the young boy’s place. This faith shown, no longer can Joseph hold his secret. ‘Know, I am Joseph’, he explains, and everything is understood and forgiven. All that now remains is for Asenath and Joseph to re-unite, which they do in the duet ‘What’s sweeter than the new-blown rose’, and then the chorus grandly rejoices.

“Advertisement”The synopsis supplied by Miller for the original 1744 wordbook PART I Jacob had Twelve Children, whereof Joseph and Benjamin were the two youngest, and were born to him of Rachel. The superior Affection which Jacob shewed towards Joseph, and the Account which the latter gave his Brethren of some Dreams denoting his own future Grandeur and the Subjection to him, raised their Jealousy and Hatred against him. Hereupon they take an Opportunity, when they were one Day in a Field together, to throw him first into a Pit, and afterwards to draw him out again, and sell him to a Company of mercantile Ishmaelites who were going down to Egypt; persuading their Father Jacob, by the Stratagem of dipping his Coat which they had strip’d him of, in Blood, that he was devoured by a wild Beast.

The Ishmaelites being arrived with Joseph in Egypt, sold him to Potiphar, a principal Officer in Pharaoh’s Court, with whom he lived in high Favour a considerable time, ’till at length, upon the false Accusation of Potiphar’s Wife, he was disgraced and cast into Prison. During his Confinement the Chief Butler, and Chief Baker of Pharaoh’s Court, were thrown into the same Place of the King’s Order; both of whom having a Dream in the same Night, receiv’d an Interpretation from Joseph, which proved true, the chief Baker being within three Days hanged on a Tree, and the chief Butler restored to his Employment as was foretold; but being taken into favour again, he thought no more of his Interpreter, as he had promised to do.

Here then our Drama finds Joseph, two Years after this incident had happened. At this time Pharaoh himself having had two Dreams in the same Night, the First, of Seven fat Kine coming out of the River, which were devoured by Seven other lean Kine which came after them; and the Second, of Seven full Ears of Corn devoured by Seven thin ones. The Wisemen of Egypt could not interpret them. The chief Butler, calling Joseph to remembrance upon this Occasion, spoke of him to the King, who immediately order’d that he should be brought before him; of whom having received a satisfactory Explication of his Dreams, as that they were both of the same Purport, and pointed out Seven Years of Plenty, and Seven of Famine to succeed them; Pharaoh appointed him Ruler over the Land of Egypt, to lay up in the Years of Plenty a Store for the Supply in those of Dearth; at the same time giving to Wife Asenath the daughter of Potiphera, High-priest of On, by whom, during the Years of Plenty, he had two Sons.

PART II The Famine having at length spread itself into all Countries, Jacob hearing that there was Corn in Egypt, sent his ten elder Sons thither to purchase some, keeping Benjamin his youngest with him for fear some accident should befall him. Joseph immediately knew his Brethren, and seeing them at his Feet, he remembered his former Dreams, but did not make himself known to them, speaking roughly, treating them as Spies, and ordering them to return and bring down their younger Brother whom they spoke of, as Proof of their Veracity. Having detained one of them in Prison, by way of a Hostage, he commanded his Officers privately, to restore every one of the others his Money into his Sack, and to send them away with their Corn, for the land of Canaan. Having, after a long time, prevailed on Jacob to let Benjamin go with them, they returned to Egypt and presented him before Joseph, who tenderly embraced him, and was so sensibly affected by the Interview, that, not being able to refrain from Tears, he was obliged to leave the Room. After this he made a great Entertainment for them, giving at the same time a secret Order to his Officers to put his Silver Cup into Benjamin’s Sack.

PART III They had no sooner left the Town the next Morning but they were sent after, brought before Joseph again, and charged with stealing this Cup, when, their sacks being examined, and the Cup found in that belonging to Benjamin, he was doom’d to continue a Slave to Joseph.

The rest of the Brethren refusing to return to their Father without Benjamin with them, and one of them passionately requesting to become a Bondman in his stead, Joseph could refrain no longer, but with Tears gushing from his Eyes, discovered himself to them. This News coming soon to Pharaoh, he ordered Joseph to send immediately, and bring down his Father and the whole family into Egypt, appointing one of the most fruitful Parts of the Country for their Habitation.

Recordings

'I have no reservations about encouraging anyone interested in Handel to buy this set and to acquaint themselves with the many delights of this grossl ...'With first-rate casts and careful attention to Handel's original texts, King has blown the dust off some magnificent music' (BBC Record Review)» More

(starting up) But wherefore thus?
Whence Heaven these bitter bonds?
Are these the just rewards of stubborn virtue?
Is this contagious cell the due abode
Of too much innocence? Down, down, proud heart,
Nor blindly question the beheft of Heaven!
These chastisements are just; for some wise end
Are all the partial ills allotted man.

Phanor:
Joseph, thy fame has reach’d great Pharaoh’s ear;
Who, late in dreams perturb’d, and taught by me
The wondrous power of thy experienc’d art,
Demands thy instant presence to unfold
Their mystic purport.

Joseph: Blest vicissitude!
Jehovah, whom I serve, bears witness to me;
And from the horrors of the pit, once more,
Will deign deliverance to his servant’s soul.

Phanor: Pardon, that I so long forgot thee, Joseph!
My heart upbraids me with ingratitude.

Joseph: Pardon thyself … Ingratitude is a vice,
That bears its scorpions with it … the dire mildew,
Which makes a desert of the human mind,
And merits more of pity than resentment.
But instant I’ll with duteous step attend
My Lord the King, and bow myself before him.

AIR Phanor: Ingratitude’s the queen of crimes,
For all the rest are of her train,
Her sure attendants at all times,
The great supporters of her reign.
If one you then ungrateful call,
You crown him monarch of them all.

Joseph: Pharaoh, thy dreams are one … The Lord Jehovah
In vision shews what He’s about to do.
The seven fat cattle, and full ears of corn,
Denote seven years of plenty;—the like seven
Of meagre kind, and unreplenish’d grain,
Mark the same years of famine to succeed.
Embrace this warning, and with studious search
Look out a man of providence and wisdom.
To garner up in the abundant years
A store for comfort in the days of dearth.

Pharaoh: Divine interpreter! What oracle
Could thus have solv’d my doubts?—Where can we find
A man like thee, in whom God’s spirit dwells?
Be this day ruler o’er my house and people,
And by thy word let all the land be govern’d;
But only in the throne will I be greater.

AIR Asenath: (aside) O lovely youth, with wisdom crown’d,
Where ev’ry charm has place;
What breast so firm was ever found,
As could resist such grace?
Since thou hast stol’n my virgin’s heart,
To me in change thy own impart.

Pharaoh: (putting his ring on Joseph’s finger)
Wear, worthy man, this Royal signet wear,
Pledge of thy boundless dignity and power;
Whilst in our second chariot thou shalt ride,
And heralds cry before thee: ‘Bow the knee!’
Then henceforth, as the father of the country,
Let Zaphnath-Paaneah be thy name.

Joseph: Fair Asenath,
I’ve ask’d thee of thy father, and the King,
To help allay the anxious toils of grandeur,
And smooth the rugged brow of public care.
Yet, authoris’d by both, I dread my fate,
Till thy own voice has fix’d my destiny.

Chorus of Egyptians: Immortal pleasures crown this pair,
Who thus by Heaven high-favour’d are;
Joys ever round them wait.
May these below, like those above,
Contend who most and longest love,
And be as blest as great.

Phanor: How vast a theme has Egypt for applause!
O Asenath, behold thy mighty Lord
High on his gilded car triumphant ride,
Whilst prostrate multitudes that do him honours,
Obstruct his passage through the streets of Memphis.
The raptur’d virgins hail him in their lays,
And gazing matrons lift their grateful hands,
Whilst hoary sages rise, and bow the head,
And infants half articulate his name.

Asenath: These honours flow not from the flatterer’s lips,
Like those that lavish stream in fortune’s lap:
But from sincere benevolence, and love,
And bosoms glowing with a grateful transport.

Asenath:
Phanor, we mention not his highest glory!
Mark ’midst his grandeur what humility,
The gift of that great God whom he adores.
Yet something seems of late to bear upon him,
And cloud his wonted shine: not all his splendour,
Th’ applause of millions, or my studious love,
Can yield him comfort, or assuage his griefs.

Phanor: Perchance he wants to view his native land,
Whose God and laws are the reverse of Egypt’s.

Asenath: Phanor, ’tis true, he calls it oft to mind,
And oft in silence sighs, and mourns his absence:
Nor finds he peace, save when his smiling infants,
The pledges of our love, are in his arms:
There will he grasp them—there with ardent look.
He eyes them,—while, ’midst his struggling sighs,
Words burst like these—

Asenath: He then is silent, then again exclaims:
‘Inhuman Brethren! O unhappy father!
What anguish too much love for me has cost thee!’
Such are his cares, nor have I yet discover’d
The fatal cause; but once more I’ll attempt it.

Joseph: Hither bring him, Phanor. (Exit Phanor)
The wide circumference of Egypt’s regions,
The vast extent between the Nile and Ocean,
Given me to rule, is slavery, not an honour:
Not rest, but travail.

Ye departed hours,
What happier moments have I seen! O Hebron,
What peace enjoy’d amidst thy smiling valleys!
Might I review thee! might I careless tend
Thy fleecy herd! Might I once more embrace
My good old Sire, list to his sacred lessons
Of God’s creation, of man’s fatal fall,
Of the deep waters cov’ring all the earth,
The race-preserving ark, the heaven-hung bow,
Jehovah’s divine promise to our fathers,
The glorious hope of Abraham and his seed …
It cannot be … Tyrant, enslaving greatness!
Who’d languish in thy gilded chains an hour,
That in the court of quietude could dwell?

Joseph: But Simeon comes—
Treacherous, blood-thirsty brother!
Fain wouldst thou had my life!—Cruel! but hold—
I fear, O Heaven! that some disastrous death
Has snatch’d the others from me, and perhaps
Simeon’s the only brother left me now.
I’ll touch thee not—the image of our father
Sits on thy brow—nor shall thy perfidy
Dissolve the sacred ties of love and nature.
But I will speak such daggers to thy soul!

SCENE 4 Joseph and Simeon

Simeon: I tremble at his presence.

Joseph: Thou impostor!
Com’st thou before me, but to dare my fury?
Where are thy brethren—brother-traitors? Hah!
Did not I say it? did not I foresee it?

Ye serpent-spies! under pretext of famine
Ye came to see the nakedness of Egypt.
One year has run its course—not yet return’d?
Where is their faith—impostor! Thou shalt pay
The forfeit of their guilt.

Simeon: My gracious Lord,
Our testimony’s true—By famine driv’n,
We hither fled for succour—we are twelve brethren,
Sons of one father in the land of Canaan.
Ten thou hast seen, and one is not; the youngest
Was to the care of his old father left.

Joseph:
The sight of him might dissipate my doubts—
But where’s your promise? Why is he not come?

Simeon: Paternal love, my Lord, alone retains him.
What anguish must it give the good old Sire,
To have this only hope torn from his bosom,
The prop and comfort of his falling years?
How would it shake his poor old tott’ring frame,
How wring his bleeding heart!

Joseph: (aside) Peace, nature, peace!

Simeon: Grief for the loss of his beloved Joseph,
Already reigns too cruel in his heart.
No sun or sets or rises on the earth,
That doth not find him, and leave him too in tears.

Joseph: (aside) Great God! sustain my fortitude!(to Simeon) This Joseph,
How died he?

Simeon: A wild beast, my Lord, devour’d him.

Joseph: Devour’d by a wild beast? Have, have a care!
Didst thou then see his bleeding arteries?
His mangled limbs? Now, by the life of Pharaoh,
I spy some treachery—There are men on earth
More cruel, Simeon, than the fiercest beast.

Phanor: Fear not,—peace be unto you. ’Twas your God,
That gave you treasure in your sacks. For me,
I had your money, and declare you guiltless.
Think not, that Zaphnath bears so base a soul
As to condemn you wrongfully,—nor one
So cruel to refuse you further succour.

Judah: Our reverend Sire intreats thee to accept
A humble off’ring of our country’s fruits:
Not such as with thy grandeur suits, but what
Our present wretched state has left—O Zaphnath!
Our fields lie desolate, and cover’d o’er
With naught but horror, barrenness, and mire.
Menacing the distress’d inhabitants
With death irreparable, which already
Sits on their pining cheeks.—O pity, pity!
Our good old father sues to thee, for pity
We conjure thee, and for pity
Our youngest brother lowly bows, to kiss
Thy bounteous hand.

Joseph: (aside) How his discourse
Melts down my soul!(to Benjamin) Rise! is your father well?(aside) I had almost said ‘mine’.(to the brethren) The good old man
Of whom ye spoke, say, is he living still?

Judah: My Lord, thy servant lives, and lives in health.Joseph: And this his youngest son;

AIR Benjamin: Thou deign’st to call thy servant ‘son’.
And O, methinks, my Lord I see,
With an amazing semblance shown.
My father’s image stamp’d on thee.
Thee, therefore, I would father call;
But the similitude of face
Is not enough—the soul is all;
O may his soul thy bosom grace.

AIR Phanor: The wanton favours of the great
Are like the scatter’d seed when sown;
A grateful harvest they create,
Whene’er on gen’rous acres thrown.
But if, as O! too oft, they fall,
Where weeds and briers the soil profane,
Or lost, they bear no fruit at all,
Or, bearing, yield a worthless grain.

Asenath: Whence so disturb’d, my Lord? Let not the crime
Of others be inflicted on thyself.

Joseph:
My sorrows have a deeper, deadlier root.

Asenath: Why dost thou hide them from me?—
O Zaphnath,
This diffidence does wrong to faithful love.
Wherefore that look? those sighs? Much, much I fear
That Asenath’s the source of this disquiet.
Why from her else conceal’d? Dire jealousy,
That baneful viper, rankles in thy breast.

Joseph: Pharaoh made me not
Dispenser, only keeper of his treasures;
Nor should corruption cleave unto these hands,
Or would I touch what’s sacred to the public,
To save myself and race from instant ruin.

Asenath: Then call them into Egypt! Whence, my Lord,
This criminal delay?

Joseph: I fear the King,—
Fear Egypt too.

Asenath: Such fears are but ungen’rous;
You’ve all the hearts of Pharaoh and his people.

AIR Joseph: The people’s favour, and the smiles of pow’r,
Are no more than the sunshine of an hour;
There envy with her snakes assails,
Here cank’ring slander still prevails,
Till love begins to wane.
Oblivion then envelopes all,
Our merit’s past, and straight our fall
Is stil’d the public gain.

Asenath: Art thou not Zaphnath? Is not Egypt sav’d
All thy own work? And won’t her sons with transport
Give a new life to him, who gave thee life?
I’ll to the King, and supplicate,
With laud for bounties past, this farther boon.

Benjamin: What! without me? Ah, how return in peace!
What can you say? what comfort can you yield
To the distracted parent? O unhappy,
Unhappy Benjamin! thou at thy birth
Gav’st death unto thy mother—and now dying,
Thou likewise tak’st thy tender father’s life.

Simeon: O illustrious Zaphnath,
Give room to pity; thou who rulest kingdoms,
Rule, to thy great glory, thy own spirit:
Or to his father render back this youth,
Or death to us.

Joseph: (roughly)
On whom the cup was found, him I retain.

Exit

Simeon: What, gone! not hear us!

Reuben: Yet methought I saw
Some marks of pity on his face—

Simeon: What pity!
The man who flies the wretched, nor will hear them,
For fear of yielding to their piercing cries,
Has only pity for himself.

Reuben: Peace, Simeon!
Remember Dothan’s fields, the horrid pit!
And Joseph’s cries!—Were not we deaf to them?
Then we’d not hear—and now we are not heard.
What counsel can we take?—If we return,
Our father dies with grief;—if here we stay,
With famine:—Death is either way his lot—
And black despair is ours.

Judah: Though fear, my Lord, and anguish
Have nigh lock’d up our lips, yet would I crave
To offer one word more—and, O! my Lord,
Let not thine anger burn against thy servant.—
When drove by dire necessity to wrest
From the reluctant bosom of our father,
(Ah! with what force! but such was thy command!)
His youngest, dearest son, his heart’s first joy,
He weeping thus bespake us: Well you know,
This child’s the prop and succour of my age,
The only relict of my Rachel’s bed.
Joseph, alas! my much lamented Joseph,
In a sad hour went out, and fell a prey,
As oft you told me, to the tyger’s rage.
If then you tear this also from my arms,
And mischief shall befall him—my grey hairs
Ye will bring down with sorrow to the grave.

Simeon: Give, give him up the lad
In whom his life is bound—
O let me suffer,
Whatever punishment is doom’d for him.
He is too young for slavery or stripes;
Labour and years have render’d me more hardy.
Lay all on me, imprisonment, chains, scourges,
All, all I can endure—But to my father
To be a messenger of death I cannot!

DUET Asenath / Joseph:
What’s sweeter than the new-blown rose,
Or breezes from the new-mown close?
What’s sweeter than an April morn,
Or May-day’s silver fragrant thorn?
What than Arabia’s spicy grove?
—O sweeter far the breath of love.